Share some resource gathering ideas?

Discussion in 'Community Discussion' started by Justiceinacan, Sep 16, 2016.

  1. Hey all

    I'd really love to start making bigger things, things that require many double chests of items. It feels kinda hard for me to get loads and loads of items (unless it comes outta layer 12, haha) so I wanted to ask ;

    How do you stockpile heavily on items like Glass, Clay, etc.?

    How heavily do you pack when you're gathering certain resources?

    Do you stay close to spawn or not? What's are some of the more efficient ways to mine and return back fast?
    ShelLuser likes this.
  2. For me, I usually pack light. It is usually armor, a good sword, a bow (with infinity), a stack of food like steak or cooked fish, an enderchest (important extra storage), a silk touch pick and a good shovel.

    For sand or sandstone you can insta-mine without a beacon using E5 tools. Make sure they are unbreaking 3 or you wear them out fast. I usually use the live map to look for something relatively close to a spawn, even if I have to jump smps. That way when I fill my inventory and ender chest (don't forget about the extra slot for your off hand) I can jot back to spawn & vault everything. If I'm making multiple trips I'll even leave the ender chest out there so I have one more slot for a stack of something. All spawns have ender chests available, just don't for get to empty it like derpy me sometimes. If I going after a ton of stuff, I'll pack a couple extra picks or shovels (whichever is applicable) in the ender chest to swap out as I run them down. Or I leave them in my vault depending on how close to spawn I am.

    I don't usually use horses or donkeys. Although a donkey or mule may be helpful with extra storage. I just personally never really use horses period. Ender pearls are "ok" but in my opinion, take up way more room than they are worth. If they stacked in 64, that might be a different story.

    As for clay, I don't really go after it. Other than hardened clay which a good Mesa & my guidelines above will suffice for. However ShelLuser has an EXCELENT guide to gathering clay. Which you can read here:

    https://empireminecraft.com/threads/guide-lets-play-with-clay.67657/
  3. Well, I personally lean towards renewable items that don't require trips to the waste. Like prismarine, lanterns, obsidian, stone, cobble, wood, iron, gold or villager items like glass, redstone, glowstone, lapis..

    As far as gathering in the waste, I'd highly recommend checking the different server maps, this will often let you find the resources you want, much closer to spawn, even if it's on a different server, you can just vault it back over.

    Sand is usually faster to "mine" with torches.

    Quartz is usually much easier to find, just a bit further out than you'd normally go.

    Having plenty of quality tools ready to swap out is pretty handy. This will reduce your downtime and keep you focused.

    You can use your vault as soon as you hit the protected zone, no need to go back to town if you have the vault space open. You can swap servers from anywhere also.

    If you have the time, use lava from the waste for all your smelting. Just take a bunch of buckets to the waste nether, fill up, then put in a chest that leads to your furnace. It's very fast to fill up and you get the buckets back when done. You can even make a teleport sign and place it right next to your smelter to get you to the nether outpost you want.

    Mules give you a bit extra carrying space. If you feel like using one.

    You can take an ender chest with you and pick it back up with a silk touch pick. It's also handy for quickly storing your valuables if you think you might do something stupid :)

    Keep some "junk" chests around, sure you might want to take the zombie flesh back to base at some point, but you'll be much better taking a stack of 64 stone right now and grabbing the junk another time.
    Nickblockmaster and M4ster_M1ner like this.
  4. The torch tip is great! I forgot to add that kevmeup
  5. Hmm, never thought about server hopping! I haven't used the live map for years.

    For sand, that torch idea sounds excellent. Keep the torch in your off hand, and it takes one durability to strike 3+ sand blocks down, and faster than some efficiency enchantments (though those are always fun :p)

    I definitely need glass, it's a staple for a nice looking build. Looking to get loads of that stuff.

    Thanks for the replies doods
    kevmeup and Mob_Meal like this.
  6. it is actually possible to dig the sand out and place a torch so fast that the sand above it doesn't fall. Just be careful with the timing.
  7. Yeah, I get that a lot with gravel. Never really pondered that the same thing happens with sand. (Lets just say ; I mine a lot... like, 1 DC of every mineral, block form, in the game, a lot, lol)
  8. It's fun seeing 30 ft walls of sand/gravel fall from just 1 torch after you clear a guardian temple :)
    Mob_Meal likes this.
  9. That's when I started using the torch system. I make the bottom 2 layers of the wall dirt & the rest sand. When drained, remove bottom layer of dirt. Replace with a line of torches & dig out 2nd layer of dirt. As Regan said "Mr Gorbachev, tear down that wall!"
    kevmeup likes this.
  10. Well, happy to report in about 75 minute's time I filled 1 DC with sand. So assuming I play regular amounts of time this weekend, I'll probably have my goal amount by Sunday :)
    kevmeup and Mob_Meal like this.
  11. Nice! I hope we were helpful.
    kevmeup likes this.
  12. Well, with glass I usually use the livemaps and then find myself a desert. A voters shovel does the rest (I can mine forever without wearing out the shovel).

    As to clay... Funny that you should ask, I wrote a guide about having fun with clay last week ;)

    But summing it up: the best way to get that stuff is to dig it up yourself. The live map can help you find good spots for it, and then bringing a good shovel (no more than Eff II) can do the rest. It helps to bring friends along so that you can share the load (inventory space).

    Hope this can help a bit.

    The other way to do this is easier (but more expensive): go to a bulk shop or keep an eye out for an auction (or start a reverse auction yourself).
    kevmeup likes this.
  13. I wrote a guide on how to quickly get tons of quartz blocks. (click here)
    ShelLuser likes this.
  14. Funny, I meant hardened clay, but either way in about 5 mins of scouting the livemaps I found a really nice outpost of the wastes in general, complete with a long, wide stretch of beach, loads of woods all around, and a mesa. Any glass + stained clay structures shall thrive ^_^

    Thanks for the help again folks
    ShelLuser likes this.
  15. About Mesa's & hardened clay: I started a small tradition which I intend to keep up for a long time... After every waste reset I'm holding a small "Mesa event" (or just a post) about the most accessible Mesa biome I could find. If it's not too accessible then I'm starting an event to make it better accessible.

    This is the most up to date post, and it even has links to previous posts/events:

    https://empireminecraft.com/threads/smp1-konya-wa-mesa.65523/

    With the current waste a good place to go to is: smp1 => /waste ne.
    MajorHaze likes this.
  16. Ah, I just did SMP5 waste Center. It's really close... already got 7 DCs of the stuff XD
    ShelLuser likes this.
  17. ... if you like to spend a lot of time collecting that stuff. Otherwise, I hope that's not true for most of the items, because it would make all shops and malls quite senseless. And farms as well.

    The best (most efficient) way would be to learn and perfect efficient gathering (and crafting) of one or only few resources that sell well and then trade them for the other stuff you need.

    Example: it would be a nonsense to go hunting to get mob drops.
    Or to go to the nether and spend hours looking for wither skeletons in order to get heads, kill withers and make beacons, where you can buy a beacon for 15k. With skilled work, you can earn 15k in 30 min.

    The techniques mentioned above are very good, but only with good planning, organization and fine tuning you can get a significant (and sometimes huge) productivity boost.
  18. I actually prefer gathering / making almost all my own materials. I kind of like to zone out with mindless mining sometimes. This by no means will make shops & malls "senseless". There are plenty of others who do not share my desire to do things myself. I will occasionally buy some items, mostly for convienence if I'm in a hurry to finish something. I also tend to mine, make or gather more than I need and am happy to sell it wholesale to shops & malls. So a person wanting to be independent will never break shops & malls. There are far more lazy players than those of us who go at it on our own.
    ShelLuser and MajorHaze like this.
  19. I like to mine.........................................................I mine for fun..............................I make my own food and make other household goodies too.
  20. Yeah, I see your point. There was a darn nice looking desert + mesa though for next to free, better than waiting to pay up and buy ;)